NAFTA Salsa

OOAL apprentice, Jordan, whipped up this tasty salsa for a crowd with apples as the base– no tomatoes in sight. She chose the stripy Canadian variety, St. Lawrence, for its tart flesh and beautiful red and green skin. Then she added chiles and cilantro to give it some flavors from south of the border. The salsa was light and refreshing and the perfect blend of Canada, Maine and Mexico. No passport required.

Ingredients:

  • 3 medium apples, cored and sliced

  • 1 clove garlic, minced or put through a press

  • Juice from a fresh lime

  • ½ Tbs cider vinegar

  • ½ tsp salt (or more to taste)

  • ½ cup cilantro, finely chopped

  • 1 jalapeno or other hot chile, minced

  • 2 sweet red peppers, finely chopped

Directions:

  1. If you have an immersion blender, put the apples in a narrow bowl and macerate. Otherwise pulse till ground up in a food processor. The apples should be soft and juicy and have the consistency of a slushie. You can also grate the apples.

  2. Add in the remaining ingredients, and stir til well blended. The mixture should be a lovely combination of dark red and green flecks mixed throughout the light green apple puree.

Although we haven’t tried it, we imagine that the addition of roasted, chopped tomatillos would give the salsa a new dimension.  Who knows, maybe you could even sneak in a green, Striped Zebra tomato as well.